Ball retrieving apparatus and methods of making and using same

ABSTRACT

A ball retreiving assembly includes a housing, an ejection member and a cup member. The housing has a first end, a second end and a passageway extending between the first end and the second end. The ejection member is movably disposed within the passageway of the housing. The cup member is operationally connected to the housing and the ejection member, the cup member sized and dimensioned to receive a ball.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. Ser. No. 15/688,515, filed Aug. 28, 2017, which claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) of U.S. Provisional application Ser. No. 62/379,877, filed Aug. 26, 2016, entitled “BALL RETRIEVING ASSEMBLY AND METHODS OF MAKING AND USING SAME”. The entire contents of each of the above-referenced applications are hereby expressly incorporated herein by reference.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not applicable.

BACKGROUND

Typically, retrieving balls during or after practice is a necessary part of various sports, such as baseball, golf, basketball, tennis, soccer, volley ball, softball and the like. However, retrieving balls off of the ground creates undue strain on both the back and knees of an individual.

To this end, although various devices are utilized to retrieve balls, a ball retrieving assembly for picking up balls of various sizes is needed, and further improvements to a ball retrieving assembly are desirable to enhance the use of such a ball retrieving assembly. It is to such a ball retrieving assembly and methods of making and using same that the present invention is directed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING(S)

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of a ball retrieving assembly constructed in accordance with the present disclosure, the ball retrieving assembly being used by an individual to pick up a ball at a ballfield.

FIG. 2 is an elevational view of the ball retrieving assembly of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view or an exploded view of the ball retrieving assembly of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the ball retrieving assembly of FIG. 1 in an ejecting position.

FIG. 5 is another embodiment of a ball retrieving assembly constructed in accordance with the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

Before explaining at least one embodiment of the inventive concepts in detail, it is to be understood that the inventive concepts disclosed herein are not limited in its application to the details of construction, experiments, exemplary data, and the arrangement of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The inventive concepts are capable of other embodiments or being practiced or carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein is for purposes of description and should not be regarded as limiting.

In the following detailed description of embodiments of the inventive concepts, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a more thorough understanding of the inventive concepts. However, it will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that the inventive concepts within the disclosure may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, certain well-known features may not be described in detail to avoid unnecessarily complicating the instant disclosure.

As used herein, the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes,” “including,” “has,” “having,” or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements is not necessarily limited to only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherently present therein.

Unless expressly stated to the contrary, “or” refers to an inclusive or and not to an exclusive or. For example, a condition A or B is satisfied by anyone of the following: A is true (or present) and B is false (or not present), A is false (or not present) and B is true (or present), and both A and B are true (or present).

The term “and combinations thereof” as used herein refers to all permutations or combinations of the listed items preceding the term. For example, “A, B, C, and combinations thereof” is intended to include at least one of: A, B, C, AB, AC, BC, or ABC, and if order is important in a particular context, also BA, CA, CB, CBA, BCA, ACB, BAC, or CAB. Continuing with this example, expressly included are combinations that contain repeats of one or more item or term, such as BB, AAA, AAB, BBC, AAABCCCC, CBBAAA, CABABB, and so forth. A person of ordinary skill in the art will understand that typically there is no limit on the number of items or terms in any combination, unless otherwise apparent from the context.

In addition, use of the “a” or “an” are employed to describe elements and components of the embodiments herein. This is done merely for convenience and to give a general sense of the inventive concepts. This description should be read to include one or at least one and the singular also includes the plural unless it is obvious that it is meant otherwise.

The use of the terms “at least one” and “one or more” will be understood to include one as well as any quantity more than one, including but not limited to each of, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 50, 100, and all integers and fractions, if applicable, there between. The terms “at least one” and “one or more” may extend up to 100 or 1000 or more, depending on the term to which it is attached; in addition, the quantities of 100/1000 are not to be considered limiting, as higher limits may also produce satisfactory results.

Further, as used herein any reference to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” means that a particular element, feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment. The appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment.

As used herein qualifiers such as “about,” “approximately,” and “substantially” are intended to signify that the item being qualified is not limited to the exact value specified, but includes some slight variations or deviations therefrom, caused by measuring error, manufacturing tolerances, stress exerted on various parts, wear and tear, and combinations thereof, for example.

Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to FIGS. 1-4, shown therein, is one embodiment of a ball retrieving assembly 10 constructed in accordance with the present disclosure being used by an individual 11 to pick up a ball 13 from a ballfield 15. The ball retrieving assembly 10 enables an individual to pick up balls off the ground. It is contemplated that the ball retrieving assembly 10 is constructed from multiple pieces of material, however, it should be understood that the ball retrieving assembly 10 may be constructed from various components or from one solid piece of material. The ball retrieving assembly 10 is preferably made of a durable and rigid material which is strong enough to prevent movement and bending of the ball retrieving assembly 10. Suitable materials for construction of the ball retrieving assembly 10 and components thereof include polymeric materials, elastomeric materials, flexible materials, plastics, metals such as aluminum, steel, titanium, magnesium or alloys containing these metals, and composite materials which are capable of providing the desired strength and durability for the ball retrieving assembly 10. The ball retrieving assembly 10 makes picking up balls faster, more efficient, fun, more enjoyable and lessens the damage such activity has on one's body.

Broadly, in one embodiment, the ball retrieving assembly 10 includes a housing 12, an ejection member 14 and a cup member 16. The housing 12 has a first end 18, a second end 20 and a passageway 22 extending between the first end 18 and the second end 20 of the housing 12.

The ejection member 14 has a first end 24 and a second end 26. The first end 24 of the ejection member 14 is inserted in the second end 20 of the housing 12 such that the ejection member 14 is disposed in the passageway 22 of the housing 12. A portion of the second end 26 of the ejection member 14 extends a distance from the second end 20 of the housing 12. The ejection member 14 is movable within the passageway 20 of the housing 12 between a first position and a second position. In the first position, the ejection member 14 is retracted in the passageway 20 of the housing 12. In the second position, the ejection member 14 is movable toward the first end 18 of the housing 12. It should be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that the ejection member 14 may be constructed in a variety of ways, such as a trigger mechanism or the like, and may be positioned in various locations about or along the ball retrieving assembly 10, so long as the ball retrieving assembly 10 functions to pick up any size ball and move to a desired location.

In one embodiment, the ejection member 14 is constructed of two rods, a first rod 28 and a threaded second rod 30, such that one end of the threaded second rod 30 is inserted into one end of the first rod 28. In another embodiment, the threaded second rod 30 is not threaded. However, it should be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, that although the ejection member 14 is shown constructed of two rods, a single rod can be utilized as the ejection member 14, so long as the ejection member 14 functions in accordance with the present invention, as described herein.

An end cap 32 may be inserted into the second end 26 of the ejection member 14 to make it easier on the thumb of an individual when pressing the ejection member 14 to operate the ball retrieving assembly 10. However, it should be understood that an individual may utilize any finger to operate the ball retrieving assembly 10. An opening 33 may be provided near the second end 26 so that the ball retrieving assembly 10 may be hung for storage. A spring 34 is positioned over the first end 24 of the ejection member 14 so that the ejection member 14 is operationally connected to the housing 12 of the ball retrieving assembly 10.

The cup member 16 has a threaded first end 40 and an open second end 42. The threaded first end 40 of the cup member 16 is connected to the housing 12. The open second end 42 is sized and dimensioned to receive any size ball. The cup member 16 may be made from any suitable material that is capable of frictionally gripping a ball. In one embodiment, cup member 16 may be made of a rubber or polymeric material, such as polypropylene, polyethylene or polyvinyl chloride, fabric, or some other suitable material or combination of materials. The cup member 16 is shaped into a variety of different shapes, such as frusto-conical, conical, circular, etc. so long as the cup member 16 is configured to receive a ball.

In one embodiment, when assembling the components of the ball retrieving assembly 10, one end of the threaded second rod 30 of the ejection member 14 is inserted into one end of the first rod 28 of the ejection member 14 so that a portion of a second end of the threaded second rod 30 is exposed. The spring 34 is positioned over a portion of the exposed end of the second rod 30 of the ejection member 14. The ejection member 14 is inserted into the passageway 22 of the housing 12. The first end 18 of the housing 12 is provided with an opening so that the threaded second rod 30 can pass through. As a portion of the second rod 30 of the ejection member 14 passes through the open first end 18 of the housing 12, a cap nut 44 is placed on the end of the second rod 30. Finally, the cup member 16 is connected to the first end 18 of the housing 12 so that the ball retrieving assembly 10 is assembled.

In use, in one embodiment, with a ball lying on the ground, an individual places the cup member 16 over ball and pushes the cup member 16 such that the ball is picked up. The ball is ejected into a container of the individual's choice by the individual pressing the second end of the ejection member 14 with their thumb or palm of hand. The pressing of the second end of the ejection member 14 moves the ejection member 14 to the second position, moving a portion of the ejection member 14 into the cup member 16, thus pushing the ball out of the cup member 16. The spring 34 returns the ejection member 14 to the first position. The ball retrieving assembly 10 may include multiple sized cup members for use with a variety sized balls.

Referring to FIG. 5, another embodiment of a ball retrieving assembly 50 is shown constructed in accordance with the present disclosure. The ball retrieving assembly 50 is similar to the ball retrieving assembly 10, except that a cup member 52 is sized and configured to receive a smaller shaped ball. It should be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that the present invention may be sized and configured to be used with various sized balls (e.g., baseballs, basketballs, softballs, golf balls, soccer balls, volleyballs, tennis, etc.). Further, it should be understood that changes may be made in the operation and the setup of such embodiments as described herein.

The construction and arrangement of the ball retrieving assembly as shown in the various exemplary embodiments is illustrative only. Although only a few embodiments have been described in detail in this disclosure, those skilled in the art who review this disclosure will readily appreciate that many modifications are possible (e.g., variations in sizes, dimensions, structures, shapes and proportions of the various elements, values of parameters, mounting arrangements, use of materials, colors, orientations, etc.) without materially departing from the novel teachings and advantages of the subject matter described herein. For example, elements shown as integrally formed may be constructed of multiple parts or elements and elements shown as multiple parts or may be constructed to be integrally formed, the position of elements may be reversed or otherwise varied, and the nature or number of discrete elements or positions may be altered or varied. The order or sequence of any process or method steps may be varied or re-sequenced according to alternative embodiments. Other substitutions, modifications, changes and omissions may also be made in the design, operating conditions and arrangement of the various exemplary embodiments without departing from the scope of the present embodiments.

From the present description, it is clear that the present invention is well adapted to carry out the objects and to attain the advantages mentioned herein as well as those inherent in the invention. While presently preferred embodiments of the invention have been described for purposes of this disclosure, it will be understood that numerous changes may be made which will readily suggest themselves to those skilled in the art and which are accomplished within the spirit of the invention disclosed. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A ball retreiving assembly, comprising: a housing having a first end, a second end and a passageway extending between the first end and the second end; a rod having a first end and a second end movably disposed within the passageway of the housing between the first end and the second of the housing, wherein a spring is wrapped about the second end of the rod so as to cooperate in moving the rod in a first direction toward the first end of the housing and a second direction toward the second end of the housing; and a plurality of cup members wherein a first cup member is sized to receive a baseball, tennis ball or cricket ball and a second cup member is sized to receive a softball such the first cup member is interchangeable with the second cup member, each of the plurality of cup members being removably connected to the first end of the housing wherein each of the plurality of cup members has an opening for allowing insertion of the first end of the rod.
 2. The ball retrieving assembly of claim 1, wherein the rod is movable between a first position and a second position.
 3. The ball retrieving assembly of claim 2 wherein in the first position, the rod is retractable such that the first end of the rod is positioned against an inside of one of the plurality of cups and wherein in the second position, the rod is movable in a first direction toward the first end of the housing such that the first end of the rod is extendable through the opening in one of the plurality of cups and wherein the rod is moveable in a second direction toward the second end of the housing such that the rod is movable to the first position.
 4. The ball retrieving assembly of claim 1 wherein a cap attachable to the first end of the rod for engaging the ball for ejection and wherein an end cap attachable to the second end of the rod for receiving a thumb, finger or palm of an individual so as to operate the ball retrieving assembly.
 5. The ball retrieving assembly of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of cup members is connectable to the rod.
 6. The ball retrieving assembly of claim 1 wherein the cup member is frusto-conical.
 7. The ball retrieving assembly of claim 1 wherein the housing and the cup member are constructed from a single material.
 8. The ball retrieving assembly of claim 1 wherein the first end of the housing is threaded to connect the cup member to the housing.
 9. The ball retrieving assembly of claim 1 wherein the cup member is constructed from any material capable of frictionally gripping the ball.
 10. A method for retrieving a ball from the ground, comprising: positioning one of a plurality of cup members of a ball retrieving assembly over a ball lying on the ground, wherein the ball retrieving assembly has a housing having a first end, a second end and a passageway extending between the first end and the second end wherein a first cup member is sized to receive a baseball, tennis ball or cricket ball and a second cup member is sized to receive a softball such the first cup member is interchangeable with the second cup member, each of the plurality of cup members being removably connected to the first end of the housing wherein each of the plurality of cup members has an opening for allowing insertion of the first end of the rod; moving one of the plurality of cup members in a downward direction to engage the ball in the one of the plurality of cup members so as to pick the ball up off of the ground; and ejecting the ball from one of the plurality of cup members of the ball retrieving assembly.
 11. The method of claim 10, further comprising: positioning one of the plurality of cup members which holds the ball over a container for receiving the ball.
 12. The method of claim 11, further comprising: positioning one of the plurality of cup members of the ball retrieving assembly over another ball lying on the ground; moving one of the plurality of cup members in a downward direction to receive the other ball in the one of a plurality of cup members so as to pick the other ball up off of the ground; and ejecting the other ball from one of the plurality of cup members of the ball retrieving assembly.
 13. The method of claim 10 wherein the step of ejecting the ball from one of the plurality of cup members of the ball retrieving assembly, the ball retrieving assembly is provided with a rod, the rod having a first end and a second end movably disposed within the passageway of the housing between the first end and the second of the housing, wherein a spring is wrapped about the second end of the rod so as to cooperate in moving the rod in a first direction toward the first end of the housing and a second direction toward the second end of the housing.
 14. The method of claim 13 wherein the rod is movable between a first position and a second position.
 15. The method of claim 14 wherein in the first position, the rod is retractable such that the first end of the rod is positioned against an inside of one of the plurality of cups and wherein in the second position, the rod is movable in a first direction toward the first end of the housing such that the first end of the rod is extendable through the opening in one of the plurality of cups and wherein the rod is moveable in a second direction toward the second end of the housing such that the rod is movable to the first position.
 16. The method of claim 13 wherein the cup member is connected to the rod.
 17. The method of claim 10 wherein the first end of the housing is threaded to connect the cup member to the housing.
 18. The method of claim 10 wherein the cup member is frusto-conical.
 19. The method of claim 10 wherein the cup member is sized and configured to receive a correspondingly sized and shaped ball.
 20. The method of claim 10 wherein the cup member is constructed from any material capable of frictionally gripping the ball. 